Fallen troopers to be honored Saturday

Top state officials will be on hand Saturday to honor two Montana Highway Patrol officers who died in the line of duty in Northwest Montana.

Signs will be placed at locations on U.S. 93 — south of Kalispell and near Eureka — dedicating segments of the highway to Richard Hedstrom and Michael Ren. The dedication ceremonies will be led by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox and Col. Tom Butler, chief administrator of the Montana Highway Patrol.

Fox and Butler will unveil the memorials at separate ceremonies on Saturday.

Hedstrom will be honored at 11 a.m., while the ceremony for Ren is at 1 p.m. The public is invited to attend the ceremonies, which are sponsored by the Montana Chapter of Concerns of Police Officers.

Hedstrom was killed on July 19, 1973, as he was writing a warning ticket on U.S. 93 near Kalispell. A drunken driver crashed into the patrol car, which struck and killed the trooper.

Hedstrom was still in field training at the time of his death. He had served the highway patrol for 18 days.

The memorial sign for Hedstrom will be placed on U.S. 93 near mile marker 108 south of Kalispell in the Twin Acres area.

Ren was killed on April 8, 1978, on U.S. 93 near Eureka. He had been helping the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office serve warrants when one suspect led Ren on a vehicle pursuit that ended in gunfire and a crash. The gunman got out of his vehicle and shot Ren, killing him.

A six-hour standoff followed, after which the man surrendered.

The memorial sign for Ren — whose son Jerril later became a Montana Highway Patrol trooper — will be placed on U.S. 93 at mile marker 175 near Eureka.

In the Montana Highway Patrol’s 80-year history, eight troopers have died in the line of duty. Five of those — including Hedstrom and Ren — served in Northwest Montana.

Three other sections of highway in the Flathead Valley have been named after Kalispell troopers who died in vehicle accidents while on duty.

In Ocober 2009, officials dedicated sections of U.S. 2 and U.S. 93 to troopers Mike Haynes, Evan Schneider and David Graham.

They died in head-on collisions between October 2007 and March 2009.

Haynes died March 27, 2009, four days after his squad car was hit head-on by a drunken driver south of Kalispell on U.S. 93.

Schneider died Aug. 26, 2008, in a crash on U.S. 2 near Bad Rock Canyon. While pursuing a vehicle, Schneider was hit head-on by another vehicle that was forced into oncoming traffic.

Graham died Oct. 9, 2007, in a crash two miles north of Kalispell when a vehicle crossed a turn lane on U.S. 2 and hit him head-on.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.